"Ahh! Awo! Awo!—phuck! PHUCK!!"
Looking at Tom, who was rolling his eyes from the burn and whose face was now twisted in anger, Wade calmly picked up his own cup and took a small sip.
"Tom, letting your emotions get the better of you will only dull your intelligence, you know."
Hearing that, Tom barely managed to rein in his fury.
It wasn't just Wade's words that helped him calm down.
The Felix Felicis he had just taken was also guiding him in a similar way.
The effects of the potion were straightforward—it gave him a clear, intuitive sense.
It let him feel what choices were better, and which ones would lead to worse outcomes.
Right now, Tom had a strong feeling that if he continued to let his anger flare, something unpleasant would definitely happen…
He took a few deep breaths, then opened his mouth and used his wand to heal the burn on his tongue. After that, he cast Aguamenti to refill the cup with fresh water.
Tom raised the cup and drank it in one go. "I'll stick with water… it keeps me calm."
"Not a bad choice, Tom. Compared to before, it seems you've gained another virtue—patience. To have mastered self-restraint and patience in such a short time... these are truly rare qualities," Wade said as he poured himself another cup of tea. "Tom… if you keep improving like this, there might come a day when you surpass me."
"Heh…" Tom let out a few dry chuckles.
He didn't believe that simply controlling his emotions was enough to surpass the guy in front of him.
In his opinion, to achieve that would require many, many fortunate chances that were uniquely his own…
Just then, there seemed to be some movement coming from the direction of the girls' dormitory.
Tom glanced over but saw nothing.
Wade's gaze, however, fell to the ground, because he had just caught a faint flicker of distortion there.
"Anne, your foot's sticking out," Wade said.
"Huh? Really?" Anne's voice came from thin air, and to Tom's surprise, the air in front of him suddenly rippled.
Moments later, Anne's figure appeared, holding a piece of shimmering silver fabric in her hand.
"Nice Invisibility Cloak," Wade praised. "So you've been using that to conduct your investigations all this time?"
"Yeah, that's right." Anne pulled over a chair and sat down beside them. "What about you two? Don't you use an Invisibility Cloak? You just wander around Hogwarts at night like this?"
Wade smiled. "Actually, if I want to be invisible, I don't need a cloak."
"Really? You've mastered the Disillusionment Charm?" Anne looked at Wade with envy.
If she could cast the Disillusionment Charm, she wouldn't need to creep around wrapped in a cloak, always walking carefully—one wrong step on the hem and she could trip and fall!
"Tom, have you learned it too?" she asked.
"Ahem... no..." Tom said helplessly.
He hadn't gone on many nighttime strolls with Wade, and every time he had, it was Wade who cast the Disillusionment Charm for him.
There was no helping it. With this kind of advanced spell, he might barely be able to learn it at his current level, but casting it flawlessly was another story.
And if he couldn't do it perfectly, it was as good as not knowing it at all. He might as well focus on mastering the spells he could learn properly right now.
Hearing that, Anne shot him a slightly disdainful look. "Why is it Wade can do it, but you can't?"
Tom immediately felt his emotions surge again.
Woman, you've successfully pissed me off!
You want me to compete with him? Do you think he's even normal?
"Like you've learned it yourself," Tom said irritably.
"But I have an Invisibility Cloak!" Anne said smugly.
"So you haven't learned it, then. What right do you have to mock me?"
"I have an Invisibility Cloak!"
"Heh~"
"I said! I! Have! An! Invisibility Cloak!"
…
Wade didn't interrupt, letting them bicker.
After all, they were just eleven-year-old kids, full of competitive energy.
After a while, Wade finally cut off their mutual "greetings."
"Anne, since you're already here early, shall we head out now?" Wade asked with a smile.
Anne froze for a second, then glanced at her watch.
"Um… we need to wait a bit longer. We should leave at nine at the earliest. That's when all the other students will have returned to their dormitories—well, maybe except Gryffindor."
Tom let out a snort and turned his head away.
What did she mean by "after nine the castle will be empty"? It was clearly because Grindelwald wouldn't arrive until after nine!
Still, Wade didn't expose her. And to be fair, setting aside her true purpose, her reasoning did make perfect sense.
"In that case, let's enjoy a cup of tea while we wait."
…
Forbidden Forest.
At a makeshift camp.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of a whip snapping against the ground echoed.
Then, in the previously empty campsite, a group of people suddenly appeared.
At the head of the group, Grindelwald narrowed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of the forest's fresh, earthy scent.
"Let's go. Enter Hogwarts through the secret passage. The later we're discovered, the better," Grindelwald said.
At the moment, Dumbledore was still tied up in the United States, currently inside the American Magical Congress.
And thanks to the string of disappearances orchestrated by Grindelwald himself, MACUSA was still under strict lockdown.
So even if word of an attack here managed to get out, it would never reach the heavily sealed-off Magical Congress in time.
In theory, they had ample time to act.
But Grindelwald wasn't about to take any chances. He couldn't be sure whether his old friend had left behind any contingencies before departing Hogwarts.
As soon as Grindelwald finished speaking, the group once again vanished into the Forbidden Forest…
The secret passage had been discovered by Anne during her search for the magical energy convergence points.
She had marked the closest one for Grindelwald and his followers.
At the entrance to the passage, several members of the Alliance were already standing guard.
They had even cast a few concealment spells to hide the location.
When Grindelwald and his group appeared, the guards quickly dispelled the concealment spells and opened the entrance to the secret passage.
The infiltration into the castle went smoothly.
Everyone was under the Disillusionment Charm as they emerged on the lowest level of the castle.
Because the lighting was dim, the nearby portraits didn't notice anything unusual.
Of course, it was only because of the low lighting—otherwise, the sudden trail of muddy footprints on the floor would've drawn the portraits' attention immediately.
Vinda, holding the map Anne had given her, silently took the lead.
Soon, they arrived at the collapsed section of the passage.
Here, everyone removed their Disillusionment Charms.
"It should be just beyond here," Vinda said, folding up the map and turning to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald stepped forward slowly to the blocked-off area, placing his hand on the mound of stone rubble. He closed his eyes and focused carefully.
Almost immediately, he could clearly sense the vibrant magical energy radiating from the hidden chamber beyond.
The magical aura was identical to what he had discovered within the goblin orbs—and the amount this time seemed even greater.
"No doubt about it. It's right behind this," said Grindelwald. "Begin."
At his command, two members of the Alliance stepped forward. Each took out a vial, opened the lid, and poured the liquid onto the collapsed debris ahead.
A sharp hissing sound followed.
A pungent smell filled the air as the soil began to rapidly dissolve where the liquid touched it.
However, the two Alliance members soon looked uneasy.
"Sir... we can only dissolve the dirt, but the stone… for some reason, it won't melt at all," one of them reported quickly to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald did not become angry at the news. Instead, he reassured his men.
"It's alright, Oliv. This isn't your fault. Being able to remove the soil is already quite an achievement. Hogwarts has stood for over a thousand years. Even an ordinary stone here is imbued with powerful protective magic. Otherwise, the castle would have collapsed long ago, wouldn't it?"
"Apologies, sir…" Oliv was deeply moved by Grindelwald's understanding.
"If we can't do this quietly, then let's proceed directly," said Grindelwald.
The surrounding Alliance members drew their wands at once and moved to the front.
The next second—
Booming rumbles echoed.
The collapsed passage was restored, causing a tremendous tremor throughout the ground.
Grindelwald stood calmly at the rear. Suddenly, he turned to Vinda.
"It seems… we have a guest. I'll leave this to you."
With that, Grindelwald took a portion of the Alliance members and turned to leave the passage.
At the tunnel's exit, an old man with a long white beard stood quietly.
"It seems you're the one being rude here. From where I'm standing, you're the guest—an uninvited and most unwelcome one," the old wizard said evenly, stroking his long beard.
Grindelwald looked at the old man before him and let his signature smile spread across his face. "Ah~ So, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts is no fool after all."
"What a pity… When you get old, no one takes you seriously anymore," said Headmaster Dippet, rubbing his eyes—but at some point, a wand had silently appeared in his hand.
"You're already so old… why bother? Wouldn't it be better to pretend you didn't see anything?~" Grindelwald said with a smile, gently stroking the Elder Wand in his hand.
"Young man, I'm not so old that I can't even wave a wand… I'm just old, not dead. When unwelcome guests barge into one's home, how could I possibly turn a blind eye? You didn't really think that just because you lured Albus away, you could do whatever you pleased at Hogwarts, did you?"
"Then… there's nothing more to say, Headmaster Dippet."
After a moment of silence, the battle broke out abruptly.
Boom! Boom! BooOOOoom!
The clash of spells shook the ground violently.
Even Vinda and the others, who had just cleared the collapsed section of the tunnel, could feel the intense surge of magical power.
The old headmaster's strength caught them somewhat off guard—but they still had complete faith in Grindelwald's power.
At the same time, the other professors in the castle, having calmed the students, were hurrying over.
The Alliance members who had followed Grindelwald out of the passage immediately stepped forward to meet them…
__________
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